Abstract

A subset $X$ of a Polish group $G$ is called Haar null if there exists
a Borel set $B \supset X$ and Borel probability measure $\mu$ on $G$ such that
$\mu(gBh)=0$ for every $g,h \in G$.
We prove that there exist a set $X \subset \mathbb R$ that is not Lebesgue null and a
Borel probability measure $\mu$ such that $\mu(X + t) = 0$ for every $t \in
\mathbb R$.
This answers a question from David Fremlin's problem list by showing
that one cannot simplify the definition of a Haar null set by leaving out the
Borel set $B$. (The answer was already known assuming the Continuum
Hypothesis.)
This result motivates the following Baire category analogue. It is consistent
with $ZFC$ that there exist an abelian Polish group $G$ and a Cantor
set $C \subset G$ such that for every non-meagre set $X \subset G$ there exists a $t
\in G$ such that $C \cap (X + t)$ is relatively non-meagre in $C$. This
essentially generalises results of Bartoszyński and Burke-Miller.